Madison Square Garden, a complex accustomed to housing thousands of spectators, is home to a considerably different crowd this week as Republicans from across the nation take their time in the convention limelight.

The convention, which began Monday amid poll results that show Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry neck-and-neck across the nation, is expected to help shore up the national Republican base and give Bush a strong launching point heading into the presidential debates. In the lead up to the convention, however, polls showed that Bush has gained some ground back from Kerry’s post-Democratic convention bounce.

Many Republican strategists have said the convention will concentrate on the president’s economic record and record on fighting terrorism as a way to target voters in key battleground states. The choice of the location, some say, reflects that.

Ray Dearin, an alternate delegate and professor of English and political science, said the location of the convention, New York City, which was the site of the worst of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks — wasn’t a coincidence.

“There have been many efforts to try and remember that date,” Dearin said of Sept. 11 in a recent interview. “It’s a fact of life. You couldn’t ignore Pearl Harbor in the 1944 presidential election. You can’t ignore the events that are shaping the events of the election.” Iowa delegation co-chairman Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said he expects much of the discussion from the speakers to be limited to what the president will be speaking about in his acceptance speech on Thursday.

“If there is any discussion what-so-ever about the Republican platform on the floor, I’d be surprised,” he said.

Grassley said he believed the president would be speaking mostly about his performance in the war on terror and his economic policies to date. He said the president wouldn’t be giving any exact dates about a pull out from Iraq, but he would be giving a broad overview of his plans for the future.

As far as the economy is concerned, Grassley said he thought the president would stress low unemployment rates and the economic turn-around.

“As far as the economy, the president has to convince people what they are already convinced of,” he said. “There is not a single economic indicator that is not positive.”

The role of defense and the war on terror is evident in this year’s convention. According to statistics released by the Republican National Convention, one out of every five delegates is either a combat veteran or is in the military reserves.

“We’re proud that nearly one in five delegates to the Republican National Convention is a veteran or is currently serving this country in our nation’s Armed Forces as a military reservist,” said Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie. “From the veterans who have fought to protect and preserve the freedoms we enjoy today, to the men and women who are protecting us now as we fight the war on terror, they deserve our thanks and gratitude.”

Gillespie said this year’s convention is boasting to be the most diverse convention in the party’s history, with a projected 70 percent increase in minority delegates over the 2000 convention figures.

Iowa senator and delegate Larry McKibben said one of the reasons there has been an increase is because more minorities are beginning to see the party as a party for freedom.

“As more and more of the minority population gets wealthier, they find out how burdensome the tax system is,” McKibben said. “The other thing is the Republican Party has always stood historically for freedom.”

Even though this is the time for the Republican Party to step into the spotlight, they aren’t going to do it without some strong resistance.

Over the weekend, more than a quarter-million protesters were believed to have arrived in New York to demonstrate against a variety of policies enacted by the Bush administration.

According to the Associated Press, the trail of protesters stretched more than 20 blocks, and took five hours for the group to pass by the convention hall.

Democrats have also set up a headquarters to offer rapid fire responses to claims made by Republicans at the convention.

Many of the delegates are aware of the dissenting presence from protesters, but stand unafraid of any possibility that the mob might break up the proceedings inside the convention hall.

“The world is populated by a large population of anarchists,” McKibben said. “I expect we’ll see that in New York. The security at both the Republican and Democratic conventions was the highest in the history of the country.”

— The Associated Press contributed to this article.